Archive for the ‘Scopus’ Category

Scopus is now included in Discover@Bolton. Scopus is a very powerful database with a virtually unrivalled depth of indexing, and we’re delighted that it can now be accessed in this way. Happy searching!

Last summer, I talked about the University of Bolton’s involvement in the UK Scopus User Enhancement Group, and how it is very important to contribute in any way we can to the ongoing development of such an important academic resource.

It’s also an opportunity to find out what’s on the horizon, and one of the developments that was discussed at that meeting was the Scopus Cited Reference Expansion Programme and the roadmap for its progress. While accessing Scopus myself this afternoon, I spotted a progress report on this project which I thought I’d share. The Scopus Cited Reference Expansion Programme will, over the course of around 12 months, aims to add capture million of citations to pre-1996 articles back to 1970 and beyond. By the end of last year, over 5 million had already been added, and it’s hoped that this figure will almost double in 2016.

It seems incredible to think that citation information of anything published prior to 1996 isn’t available: after all, isn’t everything available at the touch of a button? You’d be forgiven for thinking that, but the world of information provision has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. This blog author was in the middle of her A-Levels then: almost every essay I handed in was handwritten; we didn’t use the internet at all in the course of our studies; there were no electronic resources available us. Moreover, we either had chalkboards in our classrooms or overhead projectors with acetate slides! (one of these, for the uninitiated)

The concept of an electronic journal being the norm – or should I say, the expectation as I believe is absolutely justifiable – really didn’t come into play until relatively recently. It is still the case that content to electronic material before 1997 shouldn’t be regarded as expected, so projects like the Scopus Cited Reference Expansion Programme are an important way to ensure that intellectual output is ‘retrospectively’ converted to an electronic format.

If you are a Scopus user and use Internet Explorer 8, please be aware that this browser will cease to be supported on October 1st. If you are affected by this change, make sure you upgrade your browser to a newer version so that you can continue to access the resource.

I’m working out on the desk in a rather peaceful library this afternoon (for those of you who don’t know, we’re undergoing some refurbishment over the summer vacation, and the Library desk can currently be found at the Out of Hours entrance) and while I make sure I’m up to date with various resource issues, my mind has turned to a meeting I’ll be attending on Monday.

I’m a member of the JIBS Scopus Enhancement User Group, a group comprised of library staff of all descriptions from varying institutions all over the UK. Bolton has been a member for a very long time, and we were chosen to be on this group due to our strong emphasis on teaching, which sets us apart from other members, whose primary institutional function may be research, for example. The Scopus Enhancement User Group meets to discuss Scopus, a very important resource to which we have access. Although the value of the group is clearly to discuss the resource with a range of other Scopus subscribers, this discussion takes place with Elsevier, providers of the Scopus database, who can inform of us as representatives of the HE community of developments in the short, medium and long term, and can listen to our views on the development of the resource.

It’s really important for resource providers to understand the way in which resources are used, what developments are valued and if there are any issues that may prevent the resource from being used successfully. Elsevier aren’t alone in their approach, and as a librarian, I welcome the opportunity to meet with providers and ensure that the resources you wish to use for your studies are delivering in the best way possible. From major content considerations such as the inclusion of electronic books within a database, for example, to relatively minor issues, such as the way in which a provider indicates subscribed-to content, it’s important that resource providers hear us, and that we make ourselves heard!

If you ever find that there’s something you don’t like about a resource – maybe you think a search box could be better placed, or you think there is an issue in the relevancy ranking of search results – then do let us know. We’ll always take your feedback to the providers; it really matters!

Unfortunately, the problems we were experiencing with ScienceDirect and Scopus are on going, and currently neither resource is available. This problem is affecting most UK universities, and as yet, we don’t have any indication of when the problem might be resolved. Keep checking this blog for further updates. We apologies for any inconvenience caused.

It would seem that we are experiencing problems accessing ScienceDirect and Scopus at the moment due to a system-wide outage that is affecting many customers. The problem is being worked on by the suppliers and it is hoped will be resolved as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Scopus are reporting that there are issues with using the latest version of Chrome (version 42) and getting the Download Manager to work properly. While the providers of the database work to find a solution to this problem, they have put in place a workaround, which is detailed here.

It would appear that we are experiencing problems accessing ScienceDirect at the moment: you may find that you get an error message. The problem has been reported, and it is hoped will be resolved as soon as possible, We apologise for any inconvenience caused.